Bloomberg's secret White House bid

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | May 11, 2007 | Toby Harnden

[Stoat]

Bloomberg's secret White House bid

By Toby Harnden, US Editor, in Washington
 

Last Updated: 9:25pm BST 11/05/2007

• Toby Harnden's blog: President Bloomberg's plan
• Profile: Michael Bloomberg

  Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and mayor of New York, is secretly building the financial and organisational foundations of an audacious third-party presidential candidacy that would transform the 2008 race for the White House.

  	A recent poll gave Mr Bloomberg a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers

  “He wants to do this, he thinks he could win it and he thinks he could be a great president,” said a source closely connected to the mayor’s inner circle.

  “Mike Bloomberg has got $500 million to spend and he is supremely confident.”

  The Daily Telegraph has established that a senior aide to Mr Bloomberg has held three lunch meetings, two of them last month, with officials from the Independence Party during which there were detailed discussions of how a third-party bid could be launched.

  Kevin Sheekey, Mr Bloomberg’s special adviser and chief political strategist, first met Frank MacKay, New York chair of the Independence Party, for exploratory talks in November at Manhattan’s Four Seasons hotel.

  Two further lunch meetings, over steak and seafood at Bobby Van’s restaurant on Broad Street in Manhattan, took place in quick succession early last month.

  The two men were joined by Tom Connolly, state vice chair of the Independence Party. At the most recent lunch, another Bloomberg political consultant dropped by for part of the meeting which, like the others, took place at the Bloomberg camp’s request.

  A centrist Bloomberg candidacy could seriously damage Hillary Clinton if she emerged as the Democratic nominee. But a conservative Republican nominee such as John McCain, Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson, who has yet to enter the race, could also stand to lose millions of votes to him.

  Ross Perot, who secured 19 per cent of the vote in 1992, is widely credited with enabling Bill Clinton to defeat President George Bush Snr.

  Mr Bloomberg would be likely to run as a social liberal and fiscal conservative with signature issues such as environmentalism and gun control.

  Mr MacKay declined to confirm or deny whether the meetings had happened but said that he thought Mr Bloomberg would make an “excellent candidate” in 2008.

  “It’s a wide-open field. This is a unique time.

  “The Democrats winning the House and the Senate sets up a polarising situation. There’s going to be a lot of conflict between Nancy Pelosi [Speaker of the House of Representatives and a Democrat] and George Bush and people are going to have their fill of it.”

  Running as an independent candidate is a formidable organisational undertaking because of the different rules across the country about being allowed on the ballot.

  “I’m absolutely in touch with leaders in all 50 states who want a third party established,” said Mr MacKay.

  “We are just waiting for the right candidate.”

  Mr Bloomberg, 65, has publicly denied he is seeking the presidency while clearly enjoying the speculation. He was re-elected mayor in 2005 and a recent poll gave him a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers.

  His financial information company Bloomberg is believed to be worth about $20 billion, making his personal stake some $13 billion - a fortune that would give him the launching pad to compete easily even in what is certain to be the most expensive election in US history.

  Only this week Mr Bloomberg relaunched the website www.mikebloomberg.com that he used to run for mayor in 2001 and 2005. Almost identical in style to sites being used by declared presidential candidates, it includes links to articles that examine his credentials as a third-party candidate.

  Earlier this year in an interview with Fortune magazine, Mr Bloomberg talked about his future saying “assuming I’m not living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” - the address of the White House.

  Mr Bloomberg is understood to waiting until next February to see who will emerge as the Republican and Democratic nominees before making a final decision.

  Mr MacKay said: “The fly in the ointment for Bloomberg would be Giuliani because he is moderate to Left when you look at Republicans. Bloomberg would be squeezed.

  “He needs a Fred Thompson or a Mitt Romney or even a John McCain. Anyone coming from the Right could leave someone like Mike Bloomberg a tremendous amount of room to get that middle ground.”

  A Bloomberg company source said that Mr Bloomberg had made preparations to borrow enough money against his stake in the company to fund a presidential campaign.

  “When the mayoral race was being considered, people said he would be crazy to do it and he had no chance. Then he won. He’s got a financial plan for 2008 and he’s ready to pull the trigger.”

  Stu Loeser, Mr Bloomberg’s spokesman, confirmed that meetings with the Independence Party took place but said that they were about the general issue of how a third-party presidential candidate could compete in 2008.

  “The meetings are recent but it’s not the first time we’ve spoken about supporting independent candidacies,” he said.

  “The mayor thinks the speculation is very flattering but he’s not running for president. His next career will be as a full-time philanthropist.”

  He added: “People read presidential motives into a lot of what he’s doing...but the speculation is good for him and it’s very good for the city. It’s an advantage that he’s more than happy to exploit.”

  A political operative who has spoken to senior Bloomberg aides, said: “This is as dead serious as a heart attack. If they are not serious, then these people are the greatest actors, the best showmen I’ve ever seen. They are talking minutiae. They’ve done tons of research and looked into this very deeply.”

[X-Ecutioner]

Boy!! More pro-police state republicans!

[Salvey]

I might rather have him than Giuliani.

What ?????

[Zack Nguyen]

A third party candidate has absolutely no chance - none! Bloomberg is a liberal. From where will he take votes? From liberal democrats “fed up” with Barak Obama? Why would a liberal vote for Bloomberg when he can have the real thing? Why would a conservative vote for Bloomberg when...you get the idea.

Ross Perot was a phenomenon of his times - we were in the midst of a recession with widespread discontent towards Goerge Bush and government in general.

[CaptainK]

He has done nothing innovative. He has piggybacked off of Giuliani’s programs and ideas.

The only difference I've noticed is that the city is dirtier.

[Stoat]

“A recent poll gave Mr Bloomberg a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers”.
 

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Wow, I’m impressed, NooYawk has spoken! I will really try to give a damn, after I change the oil in the lawnmower, first things first!

LMAO

Don't be cruel now!  They make some awfully nice cannoli there   :-)

“A recent poll gave Mr Bloomberg a 73 per cent approval rating among New Yorkers”.
 

---

Wow, I’m impressed, NooYawk has spoken! I will really try to give a damn, after I change the oil in the lawnmower, first things first!

[Tanniker Smith]

He wouldn’t attempt it if either Rudy or Hillary were in the race. If it was, say, Obama or Edwards against (your choice of the “lesser” non-NY Republicans — I aint insultin’ anyone candidate) then he might spend the large amounts of cash that a 3rd party organization might need.

[YOUGOTIT]

He has no support outside of left-wing New York.
But could also be in California as they are totally left-wing out there on the left coast.

[Kevmo]

Shades of Ross Perot!

Ross Perot, who secured 19 per cent of the vote in 1992, is widely credited with enabling Bill Clinton to defeat President George Bush Snr.
***One of the driving forces behind Ross Perot getting into the race was that his family and the Bush family had been waging a feud for a long time. He absolutely hated Bush. There might be something like that operating with Bloomberg as well. It would mean that the republican party needs to pull their candidate from the right side of the spectrum, like Duncan Hunter or Fred Thompson. Regardless of what happens, it would be an interesting race.

[Stoat]

A third party candidate has absolutely no chance - none!

From the article:

“I’m absolutely in touch with leaders in all 50 states who want a third party established,” said Mr MacKay.

I suppose this should be differentiated from being 'tentatively in touch', but I'm not sure on what grounds, considering they didn't even bother to specify WHICH "leaders" he is referring to.  Leaders of third parties?  Sure.

On a similar level of coherence, I'm sure that if you were to be "absolutely in touch" with manufacturers of tinfoil hats, you would be able to get a clear feeling that they want the wearing of tinfoil hats mandated worldwide..

[NativeNewYorker]

Very socially liberal, divorced, Jewish billionaire.

Nationally? Not a prayer.

[Stoat]

Very socially liberal, divorced, Jewish billionaire.

Nationally? Not a prayer.

I suppose this could be viewed as a textbook definition of "having far more money than sense".

Very socially liberal, divorced, Jewish billionaire.

Nationally? Not a prayer.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

The idiots would starve to death, or drown in their own crap, without the rest of The Nation.
Hell, I got really pissed off on 9/11, but it could have been worse, the towel heads could have hit Spuds, Florida, and wiped out the supply of decent taters! I’ve been to NYC, it impressed me, enough to keep my arse well clear of there, ever since!
Hey, Spuds Florida is a real place, nothing like NYC! The folks in Spuds actually do productive stuff!
If Bloomies foot, {either one of them} ever caught on fire, he would burn up, looking for a phone to dial 911, and die, before figuring out which leg to piss down!
Just as soon as NooYawk runs the Nation, kiss your butt goodbye!

[NativeNewYorker]

I am quite familiar with his business. He is a very, very smart guy.

He is worth north of $10 billion. Dropping a few hundred million dollars on a bid for the presidency is like you or me splurging on a really nice Harley.

It's not a comment on his intelligence, but on his means.

[Grut]

Our British Friends have a 'different' way of looking at things :-)

In this case, it appears to involve a glass navel.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Dang. The Republican candidate doesn’t have a chance of winning New York now.

[Stoat]

He has no support outside of left-wing New York.

"Some" New Yorkers feel that New York is all that matters, so I suppose this is to be expected.  I would enjoy seeing his face after he sees the first national polling results that include him as a potential national contender.

But could also be in California as they are totally left-wing out there on the left coast.

There are a few of us out here that like to consider ourselves reasonably sane but it's true the Leftist hysterics make all the noise.

[Cicero]

Bloomberg makes Rudy look like a conservative by comparison. And we’ve already seen more than enough of Rudy.

[iowamark]

“He wants to do this, he thinks he could win it...”

Believe it or not, money cannot buy everything.

“run as a social liberal and fiscal conservative with signature issues such as environmentalism and gun control.”

It would be very difficult to imagine Bloomberg running as a fiscal conservative! This is just not going to be allowed by the Left. Bloomie would split the liberal vote with Hillary and that is exactly why the Dems will not allow it.

[raftguide]

Guess we’ll have a great choice in 2008. We can elect a Dem socialist, an Independent socialist, or a Rep. socialist. But what about those folks that don’t want a socialist?

[Stoat]

It's not a comment on his intelligence, but on his means.
 

I guess that if the money is not a big deal, then being forever known as a losing third-party candidate means nothing either.

For many, it might be considered a matter of personal shame to put so much money into an obviously impossible and highly public escapade, but I suppose that in his social circle it's merely regarded as a "stylish amusement" to chat about at the next cocktail party at Barbra Streisand's.